Key Evidence

On 15 October 1679, the Treasury directed the Customs Commissioners to lay aside one of the coalwaiters’ boats stationed at Newcastle. The annual salary of £30 previously allowed jointly to John Clark, the boatman, and John Guttry, his mate, was reassigned to three newly appointed tidesmen: Robert Hedworth, Edward Clark, and John Hunter.

The warrant places Guttry—also indexed as Guthry—within the Customs establishment serving the coal trade at Newcastle. As mate, he was the subordinate officer on a boat used to supervise shipping and protect the collection of customs duties. The record does not state how the £30 salary was divided between Clark and Guttry.

Cross-Source Evidence

No other entry currently identified in the Special Collections can be confidently assigned to this John Guttry. A published transcript of the parish registers of Skelton in Cumberland records the baptism of Jonathan, son of a John Guttry, during the late seventeenth century. The uncommon spelling and northern English setting make this a worthwhile research lead, but the parish entry provides no occupation or Newcastle connection by which the two men can be identified as the same person.

The John Guttry transported to South Carolina aboard the Susannah in 1716 should also remain separate. Thirty-seven years divide the records, and no evidence presently connects the transported Jacobite prisoner with the Newcastle Customs employee.

Genealogical Significance

Although the Treasury warrant contains no family relationships, it provides a firm occupational and geographic reference point. Newcastle parish registers, Customs salary records, port records, and freemen or apprenticeship registers may reveal additional information about Guttry’s origins and family.

References

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 6

“Entry Book: October 1679, 11–20,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 6

Registers of the Parish Church of Skelton, Cumberland, 1580–1812

Key Evidence

On 20 April 1680, Patrick Guthry appeared in a Treasury list of ministers and surgeons of the King’s frigates whose pay remained in arrears. Recorded as “Patr. Guthry,” chaplain of the Guernsey, he was owed £18 6s. 8d.

The entry confirms Guthry’s service as an English naval chaplain but does not disclose when he joined the vessel, how long he served, or why his wages remained unpaid. The Guernsey was an older fifth-rate warship built in 1654 as the Basing and renamed after the Restoration in 1660.

Cross-Source Evidence

The Clergy of the Church of England Database records a Patrick Guthry, MA, ordained deacon at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, on 24 September 1670. On 26 April 1671, Patricius Guthrie was instituted as vicar of Ormesby St Margaret with Scratby in Norfolk.

A December 1683 record states that the Ormesby benefice was sequestrated because Mr Guthry had not been in the parish for the preceding ten or twelve years. His absence therefore began approximately between 1671 and 1673. Patrick Guthry’s documented service aboard the Guernsey in 1680 falls directly within that period.

The uncommon name, clerical profession, and compatible chronology make it strongly probable that the naval chaplain and absentee vicar were the same man. The Treasury and diocesan records do not, however, explicitly connect the two offices.

Another Patrick Guthrie, MA, became curate of Lammas with Little Hautbois in 1706 and vicar of East and West Rudham in 1707. The clergy database notes that this later minister might be either the earlier Ormesby clergyman or an Angus-born Patrick Guthrie ordained in 1697–1698. His identity therefore remains unresolved.

Genealogical Significance

The combined evidence supplies a probable career outline: ordination at Westminster in 1670, appointment to a Norfolk parish in 1671, prolonged absence from that benefice, and naval service by 1680. Naval pay and chaplaincy records may clarify whether service aboard the Guernsey explains the full period of absence and may identify Guthry’s place of education or origin.

References

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 6

“Entry Book: April 1680, 14–20,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 6

Clergy of the Church of England Database: Patrick Guthry, Ordination, 1670

Clergy of the Church of England Database: Patrick Guthrie, Ormesby Appointment, 1671

Clergy of the Church of England Database: Ormesby Vacancy, 1683

Royal Museums Greenwich: Portrait of the Guernsey

Key Evidence

A Treasury reference dated 31 March 1712 reports that David Guthrie—written “Gathrey”—received a novo damus, or renewed Crown grant, of the lands and barony of Mondyns in 1686. It identifies his four daughters as heirs-portioners:

• Margaret Guthrie
• Anne Guthrie
• Jean Guthrie
• Isobell Guthrie

Margaret, the eldest daughter, married William Stewart of Inchbreck. Because the daughters had not formally entered as heirs, the small and already burdened estate became liable for Taxtward, Non-Entry, Relief, and Marriage duties. Stewart petitioned for these feudal casualties to be granted to him for the benefit of David’s widow and children.

The matter remained unresolved in May 1713. On 20 October 1713, Treasurer Oxford approved a grant of the outstanding casualties to Stewart for the benefit of his wife and her three sisters. This final entry securely places Mondyns within the sheriffdom of Kincardine.

Cross-Source Evidence

David can be confidently identified with the family documented in the Guthrie of Halkerton account. Born in 1658, he was the son of Henry or Harie Guthrie of Halkerton and Castletown and Margaret Sibbald, heiress of Kair.

Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae identifies him as David Guthrie of Kair. He attended Edinburgh University, was admitted as minister of Glenmuick on 11 December 1687, and preached to the garrison at Abergeldie Castle on 3 November 1689. He married Margaret Arbuthnott, daughter of Alexander Arbuthnott of Pitcarles.

Old Parish Register evidence and the family history establish that David and Margaret had six known children—four daughters and two sons:

• Margaret Guthrie, baptized 22 March 1684; married William Stewart of Inchbreck.
• Alexander Guthrie, born 8 April and baptized at Arbuthnott on 10 April 1685; died in 1697.
• Anne Guthrie, baptized 12 September 1686.
• Harie Guthrie, also rendered Henry or Harry; served heir to his father on 30 June 1698.
• Isobel Guthrie.
• Jean Guthrie.

Harie, Henry, and Harry are forms of the same name; they do not represent separate sons. The earlier interpretation that David had three sons resulted from counting these variants as different individuals.

The service of heir shows that the daughters did not immediately succeed to their father’s estate. Harie survived David and became his heir in 1698. Because the Treasury records identify the four daughters as heirs-portioners by 1712, Harie must subsequently have died without surviving issue. David’s male line therefore failed through the deaths of Alexander and Harie, leaving the inheritance to their four sisters.

Genealogical Significance

The Treasury evidence documents the final passage of David’s landed inheritance through his daughters after the failure of his two sons. Margaret’s marriage carried her portion—and her representation of the Kair and Halkerton inheritance—into the Stewart family of Inchbreck.

The records also add Mondyns to David’s known territorial associations and establish its location in Kincardineshire. The succession sequence is now clearer: David died, Harie was served heir in 1698, and the four daughters became heirs-portioners only after Harie’s death without issue.

References

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 26

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 27

“Warrant Book: March 1712, 26–31,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 26

“Warrant Books: May 1713, 16–31,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 27

“Warrant Books: October 1713, 16–31,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 27

Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, Volume VI: Glenmuick

Old Parish Registers of Arbuthnott: baptismal entries for the children of David Guthrie and Margaret Arbuthnott.

Key Evidence

On 30 May 1693, the Treasury directed that a royal warrant be prepared for supplementary payments to officers and widows of officers who had served in the Londonderry garrison but were omitted from the general list attached to an earlier warrant of 21 March 1692/3. “Mary Guthery, widow” was allotted £10.

The formal warrant followed on 9 June 1693. Under the Queen’s sign manual, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was ordered to distribute £2,423 6s. 8d. among the named officers and widows. Mary’s £10 was payable “without account,” meaning that it was a free royal bounty requiring no accounting by the recipient.

These entries document one award at two administrative stages—not two separate payments.

Cross-Source Evidence

No earlier Special Collections entry can presently be assigned to Mary or her husband. The normal naming convention makes it probable that Guthery was her married surname and that her deceased husband was a Guthery or Guthrie, but the Treasury record does not explicitly name him, give his rank, or identify his regiment.

A list of officers serving in Colonel John Mitchelburne’s regiment was presented to the House of Commons in June 1698. No identifiable Guthery or Guthrie appears in that published list. This does not rule out Mary’s husband: the bounty covered the wider Londonderry garrison, and surviving officer lists are neither complete nor consistent in spelling.

Mary should also remain separate from Ann Guthry or Anne Gothrey, the widow who received £5 from Henry Guy’s discretionary funds in May 1693. Ann’s payment contains no Londonderry or military association, and the shared surname, widowhood, and year are insufficient to connect the women.

Genealogical Significance

Mary’s award establishes a Guthery widow directly connected with the Williamite garrison that defended Londonderry in 1689. Her husband was dead by May 1693, but the record does not show whether he died during the siege, from its aftermath, or from an unrelated cause.

The omitted claims attached to the 1692/3 and 1693 warrants may be the best route to identifying him. Military pay records, petitions, Irish probate material, and surviving Londonderry church records could also reveal Mary’s residence, children, or maiden surname.

References

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 10

“Entry Book: May 1693, 21–31,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 10

“Entry Book: June 1693, 1–10,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 10

“House of Commons Journal, 8 June 1698”—Officers of Colonel Mitchelburne’s Regiment

Key Evidence

On 26 May 1693, “Anne Gothrey, widow,” received £5 as royal bounty from funds administered by Treasury official Henry Guy. The payment was made “clear of fees,” meaning that she received the full amount without administrative deductions.

A later allocation within the same quarterly account records £5 paid to “Ann Guthry, widow.” The identical name, status, amount, and accounting period establish that these references concern the same woman and the same award—not two different widows or separate payments.

Although published in Volume 17 of the Calendar of Treasury Books, covering 1702, the entries belong to Henry Guy’s secret-service account for the quarter from 25 March to 24 June 1693.

Cross-Source Evidence

No other Special Collections entry can presently be identified with Ann Guthry. The Treasury account gives no residence, family relationships, or explanation for the bounty.

She should remain separate from Mary Guthery, the widow associated with the Londonderry garrison. Mary received a different award of £10 under a military bounty warrant in the same month. Shared widowhood, surname, and timing do not establish a connection between the two women.

The description of Ann as “widow” makes Guthry or Gothrey probably her married surname, but her deceased husband is not named. The record supplies no evidence that he served in the military or held Crown office.

References

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 17

“Secret Service Payments: Henry Guy,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 17

Key Evidence

On 20 July 1709, James Guthrie appeared twice in a certificate of salaries due under Scotland’s Civil Establishment. He was listed among the Scottish pursuivants and separately among the macers of the Justice Court.

For the period from 1 May 1708 through 24 June 1709, the allowances certified in his name were:

• As pursuivant: £19 3s. 11¾d.
• As macer: £11 10s. 1d.

The dual listing recurred in the Civil List payment for the quarter ending 25 December 1710. James received £4 3s. 4d. as a pursuivant and £2 10s. as a Macer of Justiciary.

A pursuivant was a junior officer of arms within Scotland’s heraldic establishment. A macer served the court by maintaining order, carrying official insignia, delivering summonses, and performing ceremonial and administrative duties.

One Man or Two?

Because the two offices appear under separate headings, either list considered alone might represent two men named James Guthrie. The later Treasury evidence strongly favors one dual officeholder.

On 13 April 1713, the Treasury compared the Lady Day Civil List with the preceding establishment and noted that “James Guthrie” had disappeared from both the list of pursuivants and the list of Macers of Justiciary. The simultaneous removal of the same name from both offices is unlikely to be coincidental.

This change followed the death of James Guthry, pursuivant, on 11 October 1712. The agreement between his death and the disappearance of both salary lines provides persuasive evidence that Dingwall Pursuivant also served as a Macer of Justiciary.

Cross-Source Evidence

The fuller Edinburgh profile identifies James as Dingwall Pursuivant, an office he held from approximately 1682 until his death. Greyfriars burial records describe him as a pursuivant and give his age as seventy, placing his birth about 1642.

He was very probably the James Guthree baptized in Edinburgh on 9 January 1642, son of:

• Alexander Guthree, tailor
• Jeane Gilchrist

The baptismal date agrees closely with the age recorded at James’s death, while the Edinburgh location fits his later residence and career. Because the baptism does not identify his later office, the parentage remains a strong probability rather than a conclusive identification.

James married twice:

1. Margaret Anderson, who died of fever on 24 April 1702, aged fifty-seven.
2. Margaret Ogilvie, daughter of the deceased Sir David Ogilvie of Clova, whom he married on 25 October 1702.

Margaret Anderson’s death record and James’s remarriage six months later confirm that these were successive marriages of the same man.

Genealogical Significance

The Treasury accounts add a previously uncertain part of James’s career. He was not merely a heraldic officer receiving a single Civil List salary; he was probably also employed by the High Court of Justiciary.

They also help explain the 1713 administrative change. His disappearance from both offices was not an unexplained dismissal or resignation but almost certainly the consequence of his death in October 1712.

References

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 23

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 25

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 27

“Warrant Books: July 1709, 16–20,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 23

“Warrant Book: January 1711, 1–10,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 25

“Warrant Books: April 1713, 1–15,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 27

Burgh of Edinburgh, Pt. 2: Guthrie Research Sketches

Old Parish Registers of Edinburgh — baptism of James Guthree, 9 January 1642; marriages and burial evidence.

Greyfriars burial records — death of James Guthry, pursuivant, 11 October 1712.

Key Evidence

On 20 December 1709, the Treasury authorized a payment of £20 to “William Guthrie, clerk,” for the expenses of his passage to Jamaica, “whither he is going chaplain.”

In this context, clerk identifies Guthrie as a clergyman rather than an administrative employee. The payment was intended to assist with his outward voyage and shows that he was preparing to enter colonial ministry. The warrant does not identify the ship on which he intended to sail, the Jamaican parish or institution he was to serve, or the expected length of his appointment.

Cross-Source Evidence

The Clergy of the Church of England Database contains a closely corresponding record for “Gulielmus Guthrie,” the Latin form of William Guthrie. On 19 December 1709—one day before the Treasury warrant—he was recorded as appointed or admitted as a minister for the island of Jamaica.

The agreement in name, destination, occupation, and date conclusively identifies the clergyman in the two records as the same man. Together, they show the administrative sequence: Guthrie completed the required ministerial formalities and then received Treasury assistance for his passage.

A possible educational record remains unproven. The University of Edinburgh’s published catalogue lists a Gulielmus Guthrie among those awarded the degree of Master of Arts on 28 July 1698. Graduation eleven years before the Jamaican appointment would be compatible with a later clerical career. However, the university entry supplies no parentage, residence, or subsequent occupation by which the graduate can be conclusively identified as the colonial chaplain.

No existing Special Collections sketch can presently be confidently assigned to this William Guthrie.

Genealogical Significance

The combined records establish William’s intended migration to the Caribbean and place him within the early Anglican ministry of Jamaica. They do not prove that he completed the voyage or actually served on the island.

Confirmation may be found in Jamaican vestry minutes, parish registers, wills, inventories, or correspondence concerning colonial clergy. Such records might identify his assigned parish, family, Scottish or English origins, and eventual fate. The underlying ministerial subscription at the Guildhall Library may also contain information omitted from the database entry.

References

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 23

“Warrant Books: December 1709, 11–20,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 23

Clergy of the Church of England Database: William Guthrie, Minister for Jamaica, 1709

A Catalogue of the Graduates in the Faculties of Arts, Divinity, and Law of the University of Edinburgh

Key Evidence

Robert and John Guttry appear in separate lists of Jacobite prisoners sentenced to transportation after the failure of the 1715 Rising.

Robert Guttry was one of eighty-one prisoners placed aboard the Wakefield, commanded by Captain Thomas Beck, at Liverpool on 21 April 1716.

John Guttry was one of 104 prisoners placed aboard the Susannah, commanded by Captain Thomas Bromhall, at Liverpool on 7 May 1716.

The lists were later incorporated into Treasury warrants issued in March 1717. Both men were described as “Rebel Prisoners” being shipped for transportation to South Carolina. The records establish their embarkation and intended destination, but do not by themselves prove that either man survived the voyage or landed in the colony.

Cross-Source Evidence

A comparison of the transportation lists with surviving prisoner rolls supplies probable Scottish origins:

• Robert Guthrie, a laborer from a place transcribed as Founady, Angus, was prisoner no. 9 at Preston.
• John Guthrie, a shoemaker from Glamis, Angus, was prisoner no. 62 at Preston.

These details indicate that both men were among the Jacobites imprisoned after the surrender at Preston in November 1715. “Founady” has not been securely identified and should be checked against the original record.

The broader prisoner roll also contains another man named Robert Guthrie. Because only one Robert Guttry appears aboard the Wakefield, the proposed match with prisoner no. 9 should be considered probable rather than conclusive.

Robert and John shared a surname, county of origin, place of imprisonment, destination, and political circumstances. These similarities make a combined comparative sketch useful, but they do not prove that the men were brothers or otherwise related.

Genealogical Significance

The transportation records place two possible founders of later Guthrie families on the route to South Carolina. Several genetically unrelated Guthrie families, however, were present in the Carolinas by the late eighteenth century.

Three family groups require particular consideration:

• GFG2A–Branch K: Robert Guttery, born about 1750–1752, had unidentified parents and possible South Carolina origins. He was documented in Wilkes County, Georgia, by 1778 and later lived in Elbert County. Either transported prisoner could belong to an earlier generation of this family, but no documentary bridge has been found.
• GFG13–Branch B: Robert Guthrie, born in North Carolina in 1773, married Jane Norwood and lived in Abbeville District, South Carolina, for approximately a decade before settling in Giles County, Tennessee. His parents remain unidentified, making descent from one of the transported men—or another early Carolina Guthrie—a legitimate research possibility.
• GFG9–Branch A: John Guthrie, born about 1764 in Scotland, was the son of Thomas Guthrie and Jean Duncan. The family followed a documented migration path, arriving at Savannah in 1774 aboard the Marlborough as indentured servants before settling in Abbeville. GFG9 therefore represents a separate, later immigration rather than an unidentified colonial line descending in South Carolina from the 1716 prisoners.

The Abbeville families require particular caution. Robert Guthrie of GFG13 married Jane Norwood, while John Guthrie of GFG9 is traditionally said to have married Jean Norwood. It remains uncertain whether two different Norwood women married men from the two Guthrie families or whether records concerning one woman have been divided incorrectly between them. The Norwood association must not be used to combine the genetically distinct GFG9 and GFG13 families.

Y-DNA confirms that GFG2A, GFG9, and GFG13 represent different paternal lineages. This does not eliminate the transported prisoners as possible ancestors: Robert and John Guttry may themselves have belonged to different genetic families. Each proposed connection nevertheless requires its own documentary evidence.

References

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 31

“Treasury Warrants: March 1717, 16–25,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 31

Ship Wakefield: Jacobite Prisoner List, 21 April 1716

Ship Susannah: Jacobite Prisoner List, 7 May 1716

“America and West Indies: August 1716,” Calendar of State Papers Colonial

GFG2A–Branch K: Robert Guttery and Elizabeth

GFG13–Branch B: Robert Guthrie and Jane Norwood

GFG9–Branch A: Thomas Guthrie and Jean Duncan

Mistaken Identities: The Guthrie–Norwood Question

Key Evidence

On 13 February 1718, the Treasury approved James Guthrie’s appointment as watchman of the Salt Duty at Kirkcaldy, Fife. His salary was fixed at £15 per annum.

He replaced James Cranston, who had been dismissed. The Latin term loco—“in place of”—shows that Guthrie entered an existing salaried position rather than receiving a newly created office.

The warrant formed part of a larger group of staffing changes submitted by the Salt Commissioners in Scotland. It does not state why Guthrie was selected or why Cranston lost the position.

A salt-duty watchman was a junior revenue officer employed to monitor salt and help prevent its removal, concealment, or sale without payment of the required duty. The warrant does not define Guthrie’s precise daily responsibilities or identify the particular works, stores, or port facilities he supervised.

Cross-Source Evidence

No other Special Collections entry can presently be connected confidently with this James Guthrie. The record supplies no age, parentage, wife, residence, or previous occupation.

He must remain separate from James Guthrie, Dingwall Pursuivant and probable Macer of Justiciary, who died in Edinburgh on 11 October 1712—more than five years before the Kirkcaldy appointment.

The shared name alone also provides no basis for connecting the watchman with any landed or clerical Guthrie family.

Genealogical Significance

The appointment places an otherwise unidentified James Guthrie at or near Kirkcaldy in February 1718 and supplies a specific occupation that may distinguish him from contemporary namesakes.

Kirkcaldy and neighboring Fife parish registers, burgh records, tax accounts, and Salt Commission papers may identify his family or trace his later employment. The appointment itself does not prove that he was born in Kirkcaldy or remained there permanently.

References

Calendar of Treasury Books: Guthrie Entries, Volume 32

“Treasury Warrants: February 1718, 11–20,” Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 32